Craig Story Leaves Idaho’s Political Future Up for Grabs

When news broke Monday of Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest and subsequent guilty plea to disorderly conduct for an incident in a men’s bathroom at the Minneapolis airport, it became one of the biggest stories in the history of Idaho politics.

But it’s not as if anyone, especially those in the political media here, could be shocked. Surprised, perhaps, but overall, Monday’s news came with a certain sense of relief: Finally, there was something concrete to the story that had been well-known, but unsubstantiated, for decades.

The public speculation on Craig’s sexuality started during the 1982 congressional page scandal, in which Craig proclaimed his innocence before he was really implicated. Then, last fall, when activist and blogger Mike Rogers reported, citing anonymous sources, that Craig had sex with men. That report, which was covered here and in several other places, rapidly spread across the Internet and prompted the Statesman’s investigation.

Craig called the allegations “laughable” and “ridiculous.”

That said, Rogers had sparked a new fervor in the Larry Craig story.

Popkey’s work on the story has been publicly acknowledged by Statesman editor Bill Manny and openly discussed by everyone except Popkey. Among reporters, it’s long been the go-to topic on a slow day, or when anything involving Craig’s votes in the Senate might be questioned. “Someone tell Popkey,” one of us would say, as if we all hadn’t hounded him to death about it already.

Among Republicans, attitudes about the issue have varied widely. A friend of mine recently told a Larry-Craig-is-gay joke to a group of Idaho House Republicans, and said his joke went over as if it had been a group of Democrats: with loud guffaws. Nobody objected; nobody seemed surprised.

Several Washington, D.C. contacts whom I’ve known for years have said Craig’s sexuality has long been a source of open secrets there as well.

The refusal of people to go on the record with these statements illustrates the same problem the Idaho Statesman has apparently had for years. NewWest.Net/Boise’s calls to many sources, old and new, have gone unreturned or the recipients will not speak officially. “Craig will have to get caught before the story can be told,” has been the line-du-jour for many journalists.

But now, because of an anonymous tip to Roll Call (staff writer John McArdle tells NewWest.Net only “we got a tip on it”) about the Minneapolis incident, the Larry Craig story begins to unfold.

This, in the Reddest of Red States

The arrest and Craig’s guilty plea coupled with his denials are just the first shovels of dirt in a hole he’s digging. So far, it would seem that Idaho Republicans are not going in after him.
No one in the Idaho Republican party was immediately returning calls Monday and largely, Idaho’s political leaders weren’t even peeping about the news. All the chatter that last week was plentiful about Craig was silenced Monday.

But finally, Idaho Republican Party Chairman, J. Kirk Sullivan, issued the following statement:

“United States Senator Larry Craig has been a stalwart in supporting Idaho and ensuring that the needs of Idaho citizens have been well-represented at the highest levels of our nation’s government. Until the facts of this situation are made clear, I would encourage all Idahoans to avoid rushing to judgment and making brash statements about a man who has dedicated his life to public service.”

On the Internet, the word from some of Idaho’s top Republican bloggers is: This is the end of the line.

Right-wing Idaho blogger Adam Graham wrote: “Senator Larry Craig’s guilty plea in June of this year to a charge of lewd conduct should lead to the end of his Senate career. The honorable thing for Larry Craig to do is to resign.”

Another Idaho ultra-conservative, Clayton Cramer, wrote: “Senator Craig should go ahead and resign, and let Governor Otter name a replacement who can serve out Craig’s term with dignity and respect for the people of Idaho. (I’m available!)”

Craig’s seat in the Senate has been regarded as safe — a Republican seat in a Republican state. But Craig’s debacle comes at an interesting time in Idaho politics.

Frustration with the Iraq war and the national mood opposing Bush in high numbers have never had much effect on Idaho. But the last Idaho election changed the core of the capital city of Boise from purple to blue, a Democratic mayor is set to be re-elected in November, and Idaho Democrats across the state have been gaining momentum.

For Democrats, the fodder in the speculation about Craig has always been about hypocrisy. As a member of Congress, Craig voted yes on a constitutional ban of same-sex marriage (June 2006) and on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996). He voted no on adding sexual orientation to the definition of hate crimes (Jun 2002) and on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation (Sep 1996).

The question of his sexual orientation was settled long ago for Democrats, who tend strongly to believe in where-there’s-smoke-there’s fire. Now, Craig has been convicted in a court of law for disorderly conduct in a bathroom known as a place for sex solicitation.

Idaho Democratic Party Chair, former Congressman Richard Stallings, issued this statement after Tuesday’s press conference: “This matter is between Larry Craig, his family, the police investigators and other people around the senator.”

“This is not a partisan battle. Therefore, The Idaho Democratic Party has nothing to add to the public conversation at this time.”

Another former Congressman, Democrat Larry LaRocco, has also been silent on the issue since the news broke. LaRocco has been at the forefront of the Democratic challenge to Craig, but certainly, Idaho Democrats will be looking to capitalize on this new chink in the Idaho Republican armor, whether it’s Craig running in ’08 or not.

This question of whether Craig will resign is the real story on the ground in Idaho, and most of the off-the-record chatter is that Craig will eventually have to step down. In comment threads here and in letters to the Statesman readers, Idahoans and others are calling for Craig’s resignation.

But his denials have been so strong that it’s hard to tell if he would actually go through with a resignation, which would be, in the eyes of the public, an admission of guilt.

Craig said Tuesday he will make an announcement about running for reelection as planned, which he has said all along will be in September.

For Republicans, losing the seat would be deeply painful. Craig’s seniority and top committee assignments (ranking member on Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies as well as on the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health) have given them considerable power in Washington, and he’s knocked off two challengers easily.

Craig’s fall will probably end a long political career which has been the touchstone of Republican power – which is almost complete – in Idaho. With that touchstone gone, there could be a sea-change in Idaho politics which has opportunities for both the right and the left. The fallout of the story, including the damage it may or may not do to the Republican stronghold here or in the West, is just in its infancy.

About Jill Kuraitis

Jill Kuraitis is an award-winning journalist who specializes in news of Idaho and the Rocky Mountain West. Her B.A. in theatre management is from UC Santa Barbara, and she went on to work in theatre, film, and politics before writing became a career. Kuraitis has two excellent grown children and lives in Boise with her husband of 30 years, abundant backyard wildlife, and two huge hairy dogs.

50 comments

It certainly won’t be Sali, Jill. Don’t forget the rift in the party right now. Sali and Otter are on opposite ends of that battle.

I see no resignation after today’s conference unless cooler heads prevail. Senator family values wants his day in Court. He’ll have to fight the ethics probe as well. That assures headlines for a long time. It can only help Democrats.

In a state with a political balance, it helps Democrats. Larry’s senate seat will be held by a Republican long after he’s left.

Idaho is . . well, Idaho. It is still the most conservative state in the U.S. A Republican Idaho senator getting caught in an alleged sex sting will not cause the conservatives to abandon their core beliefs and values and jump ship.

I hope he resigns for the sake of his family and the Republican party. Because he is weak and did whatever he did does not mean that we should have to give up our beliefs, I fail to see the connection.

Butch Otter, Mike Crapo and Kirk Sullivan have all stepped forward and stuck their necks out for the hypocrite Craig. Will the wingnut branch of the Idaho Republican Party chop them off? Break out the popcorn and get a comfy chair, this is just going to get entertaining.

Oh Look! There’s one now! Thanks Marion, you made me laugh long and hard.

The fact is, it’s the special brand of Republican values (I giggled a little when I wrote that) that caused Craig to suppress himself to the point where he was trolling for sex in a public bathroom. Look at how quick his biggest supporters called for him to be axed.

His press conference yesterday was more of a plea for his conservative friends not to devour his career than anything. It was painful watching him beg for someone to believe he wasn’t gay. What was even more sad was that his staff and him believed he had to do that to save his reputation.

But they know their party too well. Already the family values police are circling like wolves. No wonder the GOP is inundated with hypocrisy, these guys have to be duplicitous, if they don’t the wing nuts eat them alive.

The fact that you fail to see the connection is not surprising – you will never see soemthing that you are dogmatically determined to ignore – kind of like a flat-earther.

The connection between “[y]our beliefs” and Senator Craig’s behavior is that it is now becoming VERY apparent that your beliefs (which are rooted in outdated and ignorant religious dogma) fail to account for genetic variation (fyi – genetic variation is that pesky recombination of dna that occurs when people have sex and renders some people gay, some people straight, and some people a little of both). In short, it appears that Senator Craig is biologically either gay or a little of both but your outdated and uniformed beliefs have forced him into the public restroom stalls of our nations cities to live the life he is genetically built to prusue.

Don’t worry Marion, I know: gay is a lifestyle choice, climate change is a conspiracy, and the earth is indeed flat.

Well I knew you guys believe that the earth is flat, and that global warming causes subnormal temps, but I didn’t know what else.
I am afraid I do not see what my belief in God has to do with whatever got Craig into trouble, and especially what makes me responsible. As far as I am concerned I am responsible for my actions, he is responsible for his, and you are for yours. If I am right and I do have to answer to a God someday, I hope I have lived my life the way He would have me live it. If I am wrong, I have lived a good full happy life.
My concern with Craig has to do with the sleaze factor, that was responsible for the last election results. On the whole Republicans do not like sleaze in their party, and if they won’t step aside will not vote for them. Dems applaud Studds, William Jefferson, etc.

The Republicans have made a drastic and stupid error by embracing all this culture war stuff, meddling in people’s private business, sticking their tainted noses where they don’t belong, flinging rocks to distract the nation from the perversions being enjoyed in their own glass houses.

As Gillespie writes, it is time to get the cops out of the bathrooms, and government out of the question of who sticks what, where, between consenting adult citizens.

If Craig and other Republicans had not been such weedy little sanctimonious sons-a-b*****, this would be a non-story.

Larry Craig, by the way, seems to have had a pretty respectable career, from what I know of him, even if I don’t agree with some of his beliefs and policies. What he does in bathrooms at airports is not important to me. I hope he comes out of this trouble without being wrecked by it.
Hal

I had to think on this for a while. You have a good point. Here is what I came up with: I would rather raise my children in a society where I have to teach them how to deal with possible deviants and drug dealers in a public restroom- and it would be great if there were no such people in there, yes– than to raise them in a society where entrapment by law officers is the accepted norm, or where political leaders rave about moral values and destroy liberty by making laws based on their possibly-whacky religious beliefs.

I’m for liberty first, and as Donald Rumsfeld said of post-invasion Iraq, liberty is messy.

There is relevant point to be made with this. Marion asks what this has to do with people questioning his beliefs and political leanings. Well that is very easy. It always bugs moderate people that those who scream the loudest about public observance of morality are the last ones to practice it. That is the stinking hypocrisy at the root of the disgust for those who sanctify the use of gov’t in a “culture war” to intrude into our lives. Many will naturally impute this to the actions of those who defend this public observance even if their elected representatives deny it in their practice. And that hopefully will be the bane of the religious right.

This is very interesting. We need to go back and read the comments and see where the anger and hatred is coming from. I do not see one comment from the religious right, born again, or moral majority expressing hatred or anger. On the other hand the compassionate, loving, liberal left………..
I will grant you this is as much, if not more, of a problem for the left rather than the right. They want to express indignant anger over the horrible thing he might have done, but if they do then they are going to offend the gays they have been pandering to. Talk about the horns of a dilemna, about all they can do is rant and blame it all on the religious right.

Oregon State has an on-going reseach project into the dna difference between Rams (sheep) who freely breed with females and those who do not. As I read this article several months ago, I don’t remember all of the details; however, I do remember that the primary objective of the research–overly simply stated– is to determine if there are “Homosexual Rams”. If dna is determined be the to seminal reason, and not learned behavior, I can hear holocaust of the right yelling “fraud, fraud it’s more left wing climate change mythology”.

Genetic biologists are capable of using genetic studies from most mammals and then use it to track human genetic behavior with far less bias than doing the studies on humans (due to our intelligence and ability to choose). In fact, genetic studies on rodents are very valuable to human genetics in multiple ways.

The discovery of a sexuality gene or sequence would be incredibly valuable, and while not proving outright that ALL homosexuality is genetic, would definitely be used to start new studies in human sexuality.

And would your homophobic highness please tell me what “radical homosexual community” means? I think I might be a little confused on the matter.

Hey Hal,
I agree that “under normal circumstances” what Larry Craig put where with whom is none of my business, but here is a guy who made it his political life to cast those types of moral judgments into law whenever possible. he led the charge for very similar conduct against Packwood and Clinton.
the cop was not looking to entrap – he was there in response to numerous complaints. There was no mistake here, Craig was cruzin’. “two minutes of staring through the crack in the stall making hand gestures…
And, Yes, i do want the police to patrol this type of deviant behavior. whatever two or three or more consenting adults do in PRIVATE, is for those involved to judge. But trolling public bathrooms leads to the infringement of my right to the expectation of reasonable safe and unencumbered freedom in a open and freely accessed public realm. if i want to get hit on by a man i will go to a gay bar – or propted by a female hooker, i will go to a strip club.
Craig is now trying to shoot the messenger(i.e. the Statesman’s “Witch hunt”) – a favorite republican tactic when the truth is too much to handle.
he also tried to throw his Senator weight around, “what do you think about that?”when he showed the arresting officer his ID card.
time for Larry to go away. Idaho deserves better.

I know that it is the repulsive hypocrisy involved here that is the most galling aspect of it all. And I recognize the public/private divide that was definitely breached (sp?) by the bathroom cruising. I’ll readily concede that the cops have a responsibility to stop that kind of thing, and a misdemeanor disorderly conduct rap is a good, reasonable way to do that.

What I keep waiting for someone to point out, though, is that there may not be hypocrisy in Craig’s votes on the anti-gay marriage and anti-hate crimes laws. Just because he goes looking for deviant and anonymous encounters in public restrooms does not mean he should vote some kind of gay rights agenda.

I guess I’m conceding the point, though. As the Marquis de Sade was supposed to have said, “Men are all weak and the pious are the weakest of them all, especially when you give them boys.”
I got that from the comments section at the Washington Post.

The good news here as I stretch it is that we just may seat Jim Hansen in CD2, after all. I don’t know how well Otter and Simpson get along, but if you want to do what’s right by Idaho, then you pick Simpson to head to the Senate. It would be folly to send a total unknown with but a year left. Truly, our Reps are impotent at this stage, despite the attempts of Bethine and Mike to pretend CIEDRA is still alive, but Simpson would at least have a little more juice than someone the other 99 Senators know almost nothing about. And that’s enough with this metaphor chain . . . As well, we know Simpson wants the Senate job and that most ID Rs aren’t fond of little Jimmy Risch, so reward your bud–that’s the ID way. Gee, who did leak this to the press, could it have been Mr. Risch??
Anyway, I see Simpson going Senatorial and an open run now for CD2. And Jim has a shot if we can convince him that it’s okay to collect just $50 from folks, but he needs a whole lot of folks. A whole lot. I’m ready to write my check.

Ciantee
In mentioning the Oregon State research, I had no intention of justifying aberrant behavior. Research often starts with animals and, could at some future date, be applied to humans. Normal curiosity would lead one to ask the question: why would a person in Senator’s Craig position risk everything in life for such a foolish moment if it wasn’t gentically driven (and yes, possibly, learned behavior)? I have known of many homosexuals, who came from the identical “seed”, of a familty of several children who all–but one– were heterosexual. There is more to this issue than “meets your eye”!

Methinks the Dems don’t have much on the Repubs…its just that they don’t support anti-gay legislation and then demonstrate conflicting behavior. I haven’t done the count, but I think the Elephants are ahead at this point in the sex-scandel race, not to mention the mis-appropriation of funds issues. With congress’ ratings at 18% or less, its time for us to ask, “Why did we vote for these creeps?” Its not “their” problem…its OURS!

I read your article on Larry Craig and, as per usual like many of your left leaning newspapers and television stations, your bias showed through the article, especially towards the end of the article where I expected a loud cheer to come from the newsroom. The media in this country is full of left leaning liberals, many of whom are filled with hatred towards the right and all we stands for. Whether or not Larry Craig is guilty or gay, many Idahoans have forgotten how much good he has done for your state. Many of the ” Liberals” just are filled with a vitriol I have never seen in this country before. I grew up in Montana with a gun in one hand and a fishing pole in the other, and I worry about my rights being infringed upon by the left and the far left. The America I know is one of fairness and forgiveness.

I think that the American media is slanted to the left. The press is supposed to be impartial and report the story, not cheer when a good man stumbles.

I voted for him twice but since he is an amnesty guy, I was hoping that he wouldn’t run again because of the larry flint material against him. I have phoned his office and let them know that also. And now he gets caught and makes all republicans look bad.

He needs to resign ASAP so butch can get a good conservative to take his place.

There is indeed clear evidence for significant differences in neuroanatomy between gay and straight individuals. For example there is a small nucleus of cells in the hypothalamus that is different in straight men and women; in gay men this region is more like that in straight women than straight men. This isn’t controversial; its now even in introductory college neuroscience textbooks. This doesn’t address the issue of whether the anatomical difference between gay and straight men has a genetic basis or not; exposure to varying sex hormone levels in utero can also affect brain development and later sexual orientation.
This idea would probably be upsetting to fundamentalist republicans, but its still a free country- free speech, habeus corpus and all that (unless you are suspected of hating freedom- then you might disappear).

So I guess the lesson here is that if you are going to get caught soliciting sexual favors in the mens room you better be a liberal democrat! Then it is ok. You liberals are freaking hilarious. These bathrooms are filled with degenerate homosexuals and the Dems dont shun them they trumpet them. You libs need to look in the mirror.

I think it is really interesting to read all these comments about another hypocrite from the right outed and how you all are pointing fingers at the Dems as if they have any thing to do with your party problems—when you stop holding yourselves up as the party of morality and try to be a party working on the problems we all face as US citizens—without all your sanctimony—America may have a chance to regain our national pride.

I figured out the problem with Larry Craig. He obviously used the wrong finger under the stall wall. Is the sanctity of the most private of moments now overrun with law enforcement. I am pro Law enforcement and certainly respect the right of law enforcement to enforce our laws,but the image of a detective sitting in a toilet stall with his pants down all day waiting for someone to put his fingers under the stall wall or to bump his foot is one that I hope will leave my mind soon. What does he do in there all day? Lie in wait like a spider and quickly pull his pants up and strike? I hope he washed his hands each time.

Who cares about his sexual antics? What matters is that he is just another pro amnesty hypocrite. Of course, he had little or no illegal immigration in his day….. This hypocrite ignores or supports the laws of this country as and when they suit him. The sad thing is that this guy seems to have been more worried about “stray” TP on the floor of a public restroom then about health care, the “war” on terra, and the economy. I’d say he was out of “touch”, but I guess that would be in “bad taste” now wouldn’t it?

Looking at the hate being spewed from the left, it appears to me that the left is looking for any excuse to bash a homosexual or possible homosexual individual without admitting their own homophobia. If he had been a lib and had actually cornered some guy up against the wall, he’d have gotten a standing ovation. It is hard to say if he did anything “wrong” or not. Apparently the only touch was shoes? I’m like George, what does that cop do all day? The tape is weird to say the least.

What are you talking about Marion? Thats just lying demonizing speculation. The left has been more sympathetic to the plight of Mr. Craig than the right has been. The left has focused on the hypocrisy of Craig’s voting record. But it was the left that first gave him the benefit of the doubt on the allegations while his own party was busy drafting his resignation.

“There is indeed CLEAR evidence for significant differences in neuroanatomy between gay and straight individuals. For example there is a small nucleus of cells in the hypothalamus that is different in straight men and women; in gay men this region is more like that in straight women than straight men. This isn’t controversial; its now even in introductory college neuroscience textbooks. This doesn’t address the issue of whether the anatomical difference between gay and straight men has a genetic basis or not.”

You may be refering to a 1991 study done by a Dr. Simon LeVay, a neuroscientist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla California. In this study, Dr. LeVay, who has admitted to being a homosexual, examined a specific region of the brain structure called the hypothalamus in deceased homosexual and heterosexual men (medical cadavers). LeVay purportedly discovered that this region was smaller in the brains of gay men, leading him to conclude that this difference might be responsible for the development of homosexuality. (Simon LeVay, “A Difference in the Hypothalamic Structure Between Heterosexual and Homosexual Men,” Science 253 (1991): 1034-37).

In 1994 Dr. LeVay said:

“It’s important to stress what I didn’t find. I did not prove that homosexuality was genetic, or find a genetic cause for being “gay”. I didn’t show that “gay” men are born that way, the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work.” (Simon LeVay, cited in David Nimmons, “Sex and the Brain,” Discover 15, no. 3 (1994): 64-71).

In closing: what are your sources in this statement that you made?:

“exposure to varying sex hormone levels in utero can also affect brain development and later sexual orientation.”

Sysiphus, you haven’t been reading much if you have not seen the venom pointed at this terrible corrupt person according to the libs. Just another sign of Republican corrpuption, which incidently is why he has been pressured to go. Republicans are doing their best to clean their house.
On the other hand, a convicted felon that has supposedly been missing for 15 years has been fund raising for Hillary and the Dems. Any outrage about that? Nope surely noone would think that was corruption at it’s finest, jsut give it to charity when you get caught.

I agree with what LeVay said about genetics, as I said in my post. The two fold difference in size of the hypothalamic region (called the INAH) could be due to genetics but it could be due to environmental effects (like exposure to unusual levels of estrogen or testosterone in utero). That’s clear from many published studies- sex hormones have huge effecs on brain development and structure and sexual function. You can make female rats exhibit male sexual behavior (mounting, etc) and conversely male rats will exhibit female behavior (lordosis, etc) if you expose them to altered sex hormone levels in the womb (google pubmed and you can search the scientific literature). Obviously you can’t do this experiment in humans, but there is strong evidence that the same things can happen. For example there are human males born with a mutation in the androgen receptor that impairs its function, and these genetic (xy) males are feminized. There are other examples- again its not controversial but I wouldn’t think the concept of evolution is controversial either but unfortunately it is in America.
Another scary thing is that many chemicals in the ecosystem like PCBs have weak estrogenic effects and these things are now pervasive due to our use of them for many years. You can measure PCBs in human breast milk still today even though they aren’t used anymore. Its theorized that these pollutants may be one of the causes of the dramatic and continual drop in average human sperm counts over the past five decades.
It looks like Craig is going to resign tomorrow. Lots of posters are lashing out at “libs”. The point to be made is that the reason that Craig and the guys he picked up are furtively seeking sex in bathroom stalls is because they are ashamed/in the closet. If he and everyone else would accept that some people are gay, everybody could get on with their lives without all the hypocrisy and self-destructive behavior.

We now find out that this guy will get a 130K a year in retirement pay. This also includes free medical, eye, and dental care coverage for both he and his family members. What other job position allows this nonsense after you have quit or been terminated?

I’m a bit reluctant to jump into what seems to have become a serious discussion of what makes people gay; but, I am concerned, worried, distressed that, in focusing on how his sexual behavior triggered Craig’s downfall, we will miss the larger picture of who Craig really is/was.

The fact is that Hal was way, way, way, irreparably off target when he suggested that Craig “had a pretty respectable career” prior to this incident. The truth is that Larry Craig was, throughout his career, one of the most predatory, conniving, deceitful, sneaky villains to be found. With regard to conservation issues, which happen to be one of my primary interests, he was one of the worst legislators in American political history. The fact that he kept a low profile that hid a good part of his villainy from the mass public simply points to the same ability for hypocritical deceit that he used to hide his sexual activities. There are openly gay members of the House and Senate. I’ll echo what others have said; for me, Craig’s sexual preference is not the issue; for me, the issues have, for many years before this incident, been his hypocrisy on a full range of issues, his tremendous and long demonstrated capacity for deceit, and the fact that he spent a whole career cementing his legacy as a villainous puke on a whole host of topics and in a whole host of ways, none of which had anything to do, besides the continuity of his deceitfulness, with his long known sexual preference.

Where Craig and his ideological colleagues are concerned, I’d be saying good riddance to bad rubbish if they had twenty mistresses each. It’s the hypocrisy, the deceit, and the ideological pus down in their souls that are the crimes.

Next time you hear some particularly moralizing speech, set your watch. You won’t have to wait long before the man who made it is found, crouched awkwardly yet ecstatically while the cistern drips and the roar of the flush maddens him like wine.- Christopher Hitchens